PDF(141kb)

Eighth-Pick Marialite, First Mare in Eleven Years to Capture the Takarazuka Kinen

Five-year-old mare Marialite captured her second G1 title in this year’s Takarazuka Kinen to become the third mare to claim the spring all-star race following Sweep Tosho in 2005. The Deep Impact mare captured her first G1 title in last year’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m) and finished fourth against strong G1 horses in the year-end Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m). Marialite kicked off this season with a third in the Nikkei Sho (G2, 2,500m) in March and was runner-up in her previous start, the Meguro Kinen (G2, 2,500m) on May 29. This victory gave trainer Takashi Kubota his second JRA-G1 victory following the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, which he won with the mare. For jockey Masayoshi Ebina, this marked his 26th JRA-G1 title following his Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) victory with Dee Majesty in April.

Breaking sharply from an outside draw, eighth favorite Marialite traveled wide in mid-division and edged her way forward while turning the last corners the widest of the field. Once entering the homestretch, the Deep Impact mare made bid, surging out behind and overtaking the defending champion Lovely Day 100 meters out, and continued to accelerate strongly to capture Kitasan Black just before the wire while holding off the powerful late charge by Duramente for a neck victory.

“She was in her best form of her spring campaign. Also, the somewhat soft going and the draw all worked well for her. She responded well to my urgings and smoothly advanced forward from the 3rd-4th corner. She ran a perfect race. I think that the patience of the connection to wait for her to mature has led to this success,” commented Masayoshi Ebina.

Heavy favorite Duramente broke slowly and settled toward the rear, around fifth from last. Entering the homestretch in mid-division between horses, the King Kamehameha colt swung wide to find an open space, then unleashed a fierce late charge to chase the leaders—fastest last three furlongs in the field—managing to pass the wire a nose before Kitasan Black but a neck short of the winner in second. The colt, however, slipped after crossing the wire and was diagnosed to have lameness in his left foreleg.

Other Horses:
4th: (7) Lovely Day—raced 3-wide in 8th, showed effort and advanced to 2nd, outrun in last 100m
5th: (8) Staphanos—traveled 3-wide in mid-pack, accelerated until 100m out but weakened
6th: (15) Satono Crown—sat 3-wide around 4th from rear, showed belated charge at stretch
7th: (6) Last Impact—settled in mid-group, showed effort until 200m marker, then weakened
8th: (12) Satono Noblesse—ran 3-wide around 5th, ran gamely until furlong pole, outrun thereafter
9th: (5) Cheval Grand—saved ground around 7th, found little room at early stretch, even paced
10th: (14) Hit the Target—raced 3rd from rear, entered last to stretch, quickened briefly
11th: (10) Curren Mirotic—traveled around 6th, lacked needed kick at stretch
12th: (13) Touching Speech—trailed in rear, circled wide, passed tired rivals at stretch
13th: (17) Yamakatsu Ace—sat near rear, turned wide, unable to reach contention
14th: (4) One and Only—pressed pace in 2nd, ran out of steam at top of stretch
15th: (11) Toho Jackal—stalked leaders in 3rd, met traffic 300m out, lost momentum
16th: (2) Ambitious—chased leaders in 4th, sustained bid until 300m out, gradually dropped back
17th: (1) Fame Game—hugged rails in mid-division, failed to respond, faded

THE 57TH TAKARAZUKA KINEN (G1)
3-year-old & up, 2,200 meters (about 11 furlongs), turf, right-handed
Sunday, June 26, 2016        Hanshin Racecourse         11th Race           Post time: 15:40
Total prize money: ¥ 325,000,000 (about US$ 2,708,000 <US$1=¥120>)
3-y-o: 53kg (about 117 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 58kg (about 128 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares,
1kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2012,
3kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-bred born in 2013
Safety factor: 18 runners

1. Marialite (JPN), dark bay or brown, mare, 5-year-old
   Deep Impact / Chrysoprase (El Condor Pasa)

   Owner: U. Carrot Farm	Breeder: Northern Farm
   Trainer: Takashi Kubota	Jockey: Masayoshi Ebina
   17 Starts, 6 Wins
   Added money: ¥ 153,612,000	Career earnings: ¥ 407,258,000
   Principal Race Performances:	’15 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m)	1st

   
   
2. Duramente (JPN), bay, colt, 4-year-old
   King Kamehameha / Admire Groove (Sunday Silence)

   Owner: Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.	Breeder: Northern Racing
   Trainer: Noriyuki Hori	Jockey: Mirco Demuro

   
   
3. Kitasan Black (JPN), bay, colt, 4-year-old
   Black Tide / Sugar Heart (Sakura Bakushin O)

   Owner: Ono Shoji	Breeder: Yanagawa Bokujo
   Trainer: Hisashi Shimizu	Jockey: Yutaka Take

* Takarazuka Kinen (G1)
The Takarazuka Kinen, established in 1960, opened its doors to foreign-trained horses in 1997 and became the first international grade-one race designated by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee (ICSC) held in western Japan in 2001. It is a Grand Prix (all-star) race, along with the year-end Arima Kinen (G1, 2,500m), in which racing fans select the runners from all distances by votes, and the last G1 race of the spring season to determine the seasonal champion. The race has not had any runners from overseas ever since the Australian-trained Seto Stayer (AUS, by Bellotto; 9th) took part in the race in 1997 as the first foreign participant.
This year’s contenders among the top ten horses with the most votes were as follows: Kitasan Black (No. 1 on the ballot) who came off his second G1 title in the Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1, 3,200m) on May 1 following last year’s Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1, 3,000m); 2015 Best Older Colt or Horse Lovely Day (2nd) who came off a fourth-place finish in the Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,000m) on April 24; Last year’s two classics winner Duramente (6th) who was runner-up in the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, 2,410m) on March 26; and 2015 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1, 2,200m) victor Marialite (7th) who came off a runner-up effort in the Meguro Kinen (G2, 2,500m) on May 29.
Following horses avoided the race although ranked among the top ten: Shonan Pandora (3rd) (JPN, M5, by Deep Impact) was unable to race due to a bone fracture in her left foreleg while Gold Actor (4th) (JPN, H5, by Screen Hero), Mikki Queen (5th) (JPN, F4, by Deep Impact), Maurice (8th) (JPN, H5, by Screen Hero); Real Steel (9th) (JPN, C4, by Deep Impact) and Makahiki (10th) (JPN, C3, by Deep Impact) opted to prepare for the autumn campaign.
Other contenders that were not ranked among the top ten were: 2014 Kikuka Sho winner Toho Jackal (13th); Ambitious (15th) who won the Sankei Osaka Hai (G2, 2,000m) on April 3; Curren Mirotic (16th) and Cheval Grand (23rd) who were second and third, respectively, in the Tenno Sho (Spring).
The race record of 2:10.1 was set by Earnestly (JPN, by Grass Wonder) in 2011.